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Boulder scrubs Pearl Street memorial to Orlando victims, then invites public to use chalkboards

City says it's enforcing anti-graffiti policy on mall

By Mitchell Byars

Staff Writer

Posted:
06/15/2016 09:34:56 AM MDT

Updated:
06/16/2016 06:14:26 AM MDT

An employee with Boulder's Parks and Recreation Department this morning washes away an impromptu chalk memorial on the Pearl Street Mall to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. (Matt Sebastian / Daily Camera)

Boulder washed away an impromptu memorial Wednesday to the victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre that had been chalked onto the Pearl Street Mall — but hours later erected chalkboards outside the Municipal Building to allow residents to share their condolences.

Tuesday night, a group of people chalked the names and ages of the 49 victims who died in the shooting, along with a giant "Orlando," onto bricks on the walkway and planters in the 1200 block of the Pearl Street Mall, near the Wells Fargo bank branch.

A woman walks behind one of the chalkboards that was set up outside the Boulder Municipal Building to allow people to offer their condolences to the victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre. The city erected the chalkboards hours after scrubbing an impromptu chalk memorial from the Pearl Street Mall. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)

Duncan Tucker said he was passing by when he saw three or four people writing the names on the bricks. Soon, others joined in.

"Old people, teenagers, it was really moving," Tucker said Wednesday morning. "Some people were crying when they were writing them. Some people would just stop and look."

But Wednesday morning, a city employee washed away the chalk writings, and told a Daily Camera reporter that he'd been instructed to do so by his supervisor.

Denise White, a spokeswoman for Boulder's Parks and Recreation Department, said it's city policy to immediately remove any such artwork on the Pearl Street Mall — no matter the content — because it encourages further graffiti and because chalk can get into the city's stormwater runoff.

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"In no way was it meant to be disrespectful," White said. "When there are uncoordinated displays — no matter how well intended — it is our policy to remove it as soon as possible because any impromptu display tends to encourage graffiti.

"Of course, our thoughts and our prayers are with those affected by this heartbreaking act of violence. It was just what we needed to kind of get done this morning."

Tucker said he was disappointed to hear the memorial already had been erased.

Part of the memorial to the Orlando victims that was chalked onto the Pearl Street Mall on Tuesday night. City officials washed away the chalking this morning. (Courtesy Duncan Tucker)

"It's amazing that Boulder would clean that up," Tucker said. "That's disappointing to hear that city employees would do that to a memorial."

Tucker said he was living in New York at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and said the memorials that sprung up everywhere in the weeks after the attacks were left up for weeks.

"That was a very healing thing to have those instant memorials on various city corners and blocks," Tucker said. "I feel it's sad if we live in a community where they feel like they have to instantly sanitize all emotion and tribute to other human beings and any reference to what's going on in our world."

Boulder's White said people wishing to erect memorials can ask the city for a permit, which can be done through the Arts and Culture Department.

But a few hours after washing away the chalk memorial on Pearl Street, the city erected chalkboards in Sister City Plaza, in front of the Municipal Building at Broadway and Canyon Boulevard, where people can leave their respects and write messages.

White said the new memorial will be left up for at least a week.

"We're trying to give people a space to do this, since we know they won't have the time to get permitted for what they might otherwise want to do," White said.

Officials said Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen from Port St. Lucie, Fla., opened fire with an assault rifle and handgun on Sunday night at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and injuring more than 50 others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

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